Mariners April Report
Record: 11-16
The Mariners got off to a slow start in the 2018 season, as they find themselves 7.5 GB from the surprise Oakland Athletics (19-9) and 5.5 GB from the 18-10 Houston Astros for the 2nd wild card spot.
The Mariners are 7th in AVG, 2nd in SB, as those are the only notable statistics the Mariners are in the top-10 in.
The best hitters for the Mariners so far have been Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger, who have been a great combo in the 5th and 6th spots in the lineup. Another huge surprise has been Dan Vogelbach, who has hit .344 in 12 games (8 starts) and has started to play more and more 1B as Healy has struggled through the first month of the season.
As for the starters, Leake was brilliant in his first 5 starts before getting hurt, and Marco Gonzales and Paxton have anchored the rotation, making every start so far.
Vincent-Nicasio-Diaz have been awesome, so if our starters can manage to have a lead through 6 innings, it’s a good chance we’ll win the ballgame.
Organizational Injury Report:
Hisashi Iwakuma and Ashton Goudeau, both pitching in AAA Tacoma, both suffered serious arm injuries and will miss the rest of the 2018 season.
Mike Leake will likely be able to return in late May-early June, as he is three weeks away from being able to pitch in games again, and will likely make one, if not two rehab starts in AAA Tacoma.
Erasmo Ramirez will still be out another two months, so a post-ASB return is looking more and more likely.
Felix Hernandez was activated from the 10-day disabled list and will start on May 3rd against Oakland. Casey Lawrence was optioned to AAA Tacoma, while Wade LeBlanc will shift to the bullpen to fill the long relief role opening left by Lawrence. Lawrence had a 7.59 ERA in 21.1 IP, he mostly pitched during blowout games and he couldn’t prove to the Mariners brass that he deserved to stay in the bullpen.
The Mariners rotation is now Paxton/Gonzales/Felix/Miranda/Bergman.
